Today 70-something.com is eight years old. Normally, I use its anniversary to check on whether I’ve done what I’ve set out to do in my blog. But this year, I want to note two ways that I have gained from writing it.

First, I can see how I’ve changed over the past eight years. Writing is a gift to myself, a gift of reflection and self-understanding. For example, my retirement two years ago was a watershed, and I see its effects in my blog posts. More and more, as I grow older, I seem to focus on how to enrich my life and the lives of those I love. In a way, this blog is a legacy.

Second, even though I don’t know most of my readers, they have become my friends through their comments, and I am grateful that they stick with me. Recently, when I bemoaned my unsuccessful search for gray flannel pants with waistbands—a staple of my wardrobe that needed replacing--I was delighted that eight readers wrote me with suggestions.

In late fall, I wrote an article, I Blog, Therefore I Am, for the literary journal Pangyrus. In it I wrote about how and why everyone can benefit from blogging. Although I write 70-something to help others process aging, no doubt, the biggest beneficiary has been me.